Boy Scouts: Utah gay pride center can't sponsor troop

Tim Sharp/Reuters file

A statue of a Scout stands at the entrance to the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas.

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

The
Boy Scouts of America said Monday that the Utah Pride Center — a LGBT
advocacy group — could not charter a troop, even though the group said
it would comply with the youth organization's controversial policy
banning gay Scouts and leaders.

The Utah Pride Center submitted
its application in late February to sponsor a troop with heterosexual
leaders and middle-school age boys several weeks ago, said Valerie
Larabee, the center's executive director. She said the bid, which comes
ahead of the BSA vote in May on whether it should keep the ban, was not a
stunt.

"We feel great concern for youth that may be involved in
Scouting right now that are hiding something and we don’t ask our kids
when they come to our campus here whether they are gay, straight or
anything else," she told NBC News by phone. "We assume that they're here
because they think this is a safe place and as a safe place we think
that we can offer an incredible opportunity to young people who want to
be involved in BSA."

Larabee said they submitted their application to Rick Barnes, the
chief executive officer of the Great Salt Lake Council. Barnes referred
questions to the BSA headquarters, "since this was a national decision."

When
contacted for comment on who had reviewed the application and why it
was rejected, the BSA said in a two-sentence statement: "The BSA is
engaged in an internal discussion about its membership standards policy
and is working to stay focused on Scouting’s mission. Based on the
mission of this organization [the Utah Pride Center] we do not believe a
chartered partner relationship is beneficial to Scouting.”

Larabee
said she knew their file was passed higher within the BSA, but did not
know if it reached the national headquarters and said they'd had no
response from the organization -- just that their application had been
returned without remarks on March 4. The center took it as a denial.

"We
are disappointed," she said. "It's almost like they don't even want to
acknowledge that we even applied. It's like they just want us to go
away."

A call placed to a Boy Scout leader who The Salt Lake Tribune
said would lead the new troop committee, Nile Eatmon, was not
immediately returned. Eatmon, a member of the Great Salt Lake
Council's executive board, told the newspaper that he didn't see a
problem with the center hosting a troop.

"I was surprised. I
thought the Pride Center application complied with the Boy Scouts’
policies," Eatmon said. "All the adult members and youth that were
submitted with the application were straight."

Faith-based
organizations, civic and educational groups often charter Boy Scout
units, providing meeting facilities and leadership among other things.
More than 70 percent of the Scouting unit in 2012 were chartered to
faith-based organizations, and Larabee believed their application may be
a first by a LGBT group, although the BSA did not respond to a question
about that.

The BSA announced in late January that it may ditch the
national policy banning gays, instead leaving that up to local
sponsoring organizations to decide. It then pushed back a decision on
the policy to May, when some 1,400 members of Scouting's National
Council will vote on a resolution that Boy Scouts' officers are
crafting.

The membership guidelines have roiled the organization in recent years.

Boy Scouts is a private organization that can do as it likes. I wouldn't presume to tell them they must include gay people as part of their organization.

I also wouldn't support such an organization because I think they are wrong-headed. The gay organizations know the BSA charter and what they stand for. Why would they want their youth involved? Create your own scouts that are inclusive and sensitive to your issues.

Boy Scouts is a private organization that can do as it likes. I wouldn't presume to tell them they must include gay people as part of their organization.

I also wouldn't support such an organization because I think they are wrong-headed. The gay organizations know the BSA charter and what they stand for. Why would they want their youth involved? Create your own scouts that are inclusive and sensitive to your issues.

JMO

For the same reason they want to change the definition of marriage....

Boy Scouts is a private organization that can do as it likes. I wouldn't presume to tell them they must include gay people as part of their organization.

I also wouldn't support such an organization because I think they are wrong-headed. The gay organizations know the BSA charter and what they stand for. Why would they want their youth involved? Create your own scouts that are inclusive and sensitive to your issues.

JMO

For the same reason they want to change the definition of marriage....

Now, waitaminute. There's another article about a troop getting booted out of the school that was hosting their meetings. I realize they're afriad of getting TEH AIDS from sharing outhouse seats on camping trips, but I could certainly see a compromise looming here.

Now, waitaminute. There's another article about a troop getting booted out of the school that was hosting their meetings. I realize they're afriad of getting TEH AIDS from sharing outhouse seats on camping trips, but I could certainly see a compromise looming here.